Alternately, Shiva and his bodyguard can be found at the bottom of the elevator in Blighttown after speaking with him in the Darkroot Garden, so long as the player still belongs to the covenant. Here, it is possible to lure a nearby Cragspider into attacking and killing the bodyguard for you, although it still counts as a betrayal to the covenant and causes Shiva to become hostile.

The Dark Wood Grain Ring changes the player's roll animation to a flip, granting more invulnerability frames and smaller recovery time than the fast roll. The ring's ability only activates when the player has 25% or less equip burden(50% pre-patch 1.06). When attempting to roll in speed reducing areas (such as the swamp in Blighttown or the water in Darkroot Basin) the ring's effects are nullified, resulting in only the general fast roll rather than the flipping animation. However, if you have the rusted iron ring equipped, you can flip through slowing hazards.

Player suffers less damage in lava when flipping rather than when running through it.

The Throne Watcher can use a backflip which looks very similar to the one used with this ring.

The Soul of Cinder can also use a backflip very similar to the one used with this ring as part of its Curved Sword/Pyromancy moveset.

If you equip the Rusted Iron Ring in addition to this one, you can go through terrain such as the Blighttown swamps without only fastrolling, which makes a quick and easy way to get to the swamps, provided you equip a poison-resistant set such as the Shadow Set.